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Three questions with Fozzy Whittaker

Fozzy Whittaker gives us a glimpse into his preseason debut and his aspirations on and off the field.

One of Tom Telesco’s first moves as general manager was to claim Fozzy Whittaker off waivers from the Arizona Cardinals

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Whittaker was a star running back at Texas, where his career totals include 263 carries for 1,233 yards and 12 TDs, as well as 73 catches for 464 yards and another score through the air. Things were going great until he suffered a serious knee injury in the ninth game of his senior season.

The injury is why Whittaker went undrafted and did not land with a team until last December, when he was scooped up by the Cardinals and spent the last two weeks of the season on Arizona’s practice squad.

Whittaker did enough in his short stint in the desert to convince Ken Whisenhunt to recommend the Chargers give him a shot in San Diego.

Whittaker is battling veteran Ronnie Brown and 2012 draftee Edwin Baker for the No. 3 running back position. Whether he becomes a gridiron hero, or a superhero, Fozzy Whittaker gives us a glimpse into his preseason debut and his aspirations on and off the field.

Brian Ducoffe: You found success against the Chicago Bears (nine carries for 33 yards and a TD). How did that feel?

Fozzy Whittaker: It felt great. I’m just doing whatever I can to help the team try to get a win. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, but you can see we’re out here [at practice] trying to make it happen.

BD: There are a lot of talented running backs on this team. How do you feel you’re fitting in?

FW: As far as fitting in, I think we have a great core of guys at running back. I am able to listen to guys like Ronnie Brown, Ryan Mathews, Danny Woodhead, and those veteran guys like Le’Ron McClain.Those guys have really taught me, Michael Hill, and Baker a lot. Learning from them really helps us out to become better backs and better players as a whole.

BD: You’re an avid Captain America fan. What’s that about?

FW: Yeah, that’s what I call myself. Some say my real name, Fozzy, is my alter ego; Captain America is who I really am. I always keep my [Captain America] wrist band on. That’s just something I’ve always loved. Just coming from the comic book story lines, Steve Rodgers was just a puny, kind of scrawny guy. When I was growing up, I wasn’t the biggest of characters and I’m still not one of the biggest of characters, but the one thing Steve did have was heart. That’s the one thing I really like about him and want to portray. He’s always going to give it 110 percent no matter what it is and I want to take those type of qualities and install them into my game on the football field. That’s why I call myself Captain America.